It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any opinion in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed in plain error.10

By your Lord, they can have no faith until they make you (Prophet Muhammad) a judge in all disputes between them and find in themselves no resistance against your decision and accept it with full submission.14

And Allah judges with truth, while those whom they invoke besides Him cannot judge anything. Certainly Allah is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.18

These examples from the Noble Qur’an show the characteristics of government which are only for Allah, the Exalted. The commonly repeated phrase “a la lahu al-’amr wal-hukm”(is not the command and the judgment His?) also illustrates this point.

The most important characteristics of the leadership of Allah are the guardianship and the command, and He bestows this virtue on whomever He wills. The nature of the khilafah gives the khalifah the privilege to be a guardian over the people and obliges them to obey him. Since the absolute obedience and surrender is only for Allah, then only Allah the Almighty has the right to transfer this power and authority to whomever He wills.Allah says:

“O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority over you (’ul ul-’amr minkum). And if you quarrel about something, refer it to Allah and the Messenger.”19

But if a person assumes leadership and becomes a caliph or imam by power and intimidation then he will not necessarily be entitled to be a legitimate Muslim leader. Logic dictates that the imamor caliph who succeeds the prophet should be appointed by Allah. Since Allah puts their obedience at the same level as obedience to Him and His Messenger, therefore not anyone is entitled to become the caliph of the prophet.

Islamic history shows that some corrupt people assumed even the office of leadership and the khilafah during the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties—then could this verse of obedience still apply to them? Would the believing Muslims have to follow these leaders blindly? Would Allah tell the Muslims to follow a corrupt leader and an oppressor?

In some of the hadith books, justification is found for such rulers to rule and a command for the Muslims to listen to them. Imam Bukhari narrates from the Prophet, “After me, there will be rulers (wilat), and you will find good ones and corrupt ones. You Muslims have to listen to both of them. Whoever breaks the unity of the whole (the jama΄ah) will be considered outside of the religion of Islam.”20 Such a hadith is not compatible with the Noble Qur’an, which says:

“And incline not towards those who do wrong (dhalamu) lest the Fire touch you and you have no protector other than Allah, nor will you be helped.”21

The Noble Qur’an clearly emphasizes that those who believe should neither support nor incline towards an oppressor at all. There is no way to justify paying allegiance to or endorsing an oppressor to be the caliph or leader of the Muslim nation (ummah); doing so, would be in gross violation of the Qur’anic injunctions. Verse 4:59 not only commands the faithful to obey the ’Ul ul-’amr or their legitimate guardians (who are the infallible imams) but it also rectifies their infallibility since no corrupt or wrongdoing person could be entitled by Allah to assume this trust.